Comparison of glucose oxidase and peroxidase as labels for antibody in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Horse-radish peroxidase and glucose oxidase were each separately conjugated to identical aliquots of goat IgG containing anti-human IgG antibodies. We used a minor modification of the periodate method of Nakane and Kawaoi to covalently bind each enzyme to IgG. Glucose oxidase conjugates proved superior to peroxidase conjugates based on the following qualities. The glucose oxidase conjugates had 1) usable dilutions 2 to 10 times greater than peroxidase conjugates, 2) much lower background or control non-specific activities, and 3) nearly twice the sensitivity as expressed by absorbance change vs. change in antigen. Comparison of the antibody titers showed the glucose oxidase conjugate with 80% and the peroxidase conjugate with 20% of the original goat antibody.